Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-03-05
TIN Oracle,

An article appearing in the Chicago
Mining Review Of late date, from tn,
oracular (?) pen Of "Carolus," which il
evidently designed to enlighten the
minds Of the general public upon the
subject of tin mining in Dakota, viii
have tendency to greatly amuse, if i
does not instruct tin operators In the
Hills. This erudite ~ disseminator Of
tin lore calls attention to what he doubt.
less considers one of the principal and
irremediabe impediments to tin min
ing in Dakota; that of the limited ex.
tent Of claim, fifteen hundred feet
being deemed insufficient and utterly un.
adapted to tin mining. We here allow
the reader an interim Of five minutes to
laugh, no answer to an allusion SO pal
pably ridiculous being deemed nsces-
sary. We append a portion of the arti-
readers:
No experienced miner in tin would
attempt to mine unless he had at least
twenty acres, about double the length
on the course of the lode, as in width
the latter is sufficient TO retain il in the
front in its dip or trend. The persump-
ton is, the lode is found, and that it has
been tested at several places 10y burning
down the ore on shovel and "panning"
it, SO as to show the quantity Of tin on
the shovel. With grant of at least the
size named, thirty or forty acres are not
too many FOR successful tin mine.
The next process is, if the lay of the
surface will admit, to drive in a cross
cut tunnel, and cut the lode in depth
Should it look well when cut, drive
right and left on the course of the lode
and see how it continues both as TO size
and the amount Of tin in the lode,
whether it increses or decreases in guam
tity.
The hope is that the lode will remain
the same in size, and that it will pro-
duce large quantity of tinstuff, Of an
average quality. You must not expect
masses of tin ore; it is rarely ever found
massive in lodes.
In the best tin mines of Cornwall, tin
is not seen in the great mass of stuff
stamped, but it comes out in washing.
The crystals are like the points Of need
les, and under the microscope are seen
TO be perfect prisms, like crystals of
quartz. The gangue in Cornwall is
usually chlorite and quartz. In the
Dakota ore | see it is mica, quartz and
some massive feldspar. ] have not had
any specimens to test, but should fear,
from the appearance of the ore, to find
wolfram and iron mixed with the tin.
Assuming that a grant of sufficient
size is obtained, and the lode is opened
and traced through the claim, and a
cross-cut tunnel has inserted the lode as
deep as possible; if the hill is high
enough to warrant il a shaft should be
put down through the lode to the cross
cut this would test the lode down to the
shaft.
This self styled tin expert further
says that where water power cannot be
procured, that steam should be employ
ed, which will be accepted as n sugges-
tiOn of rare wisdom and striking origin
atily, and he also refers to the vital i'm
portance of using the utmost precaution
in preventing the fracturing of the tin
crystals while undergoing the process of
being freed from the tin stuff, all Of
which confirms us in the belief that
their is still another lunatic at large in
Chic ago.